A CHARITY worker from Liverpool who taught deaf children in India died when a rickshaw was involved in a hit-and-run accident, an inquest heard.

Photographer Gary McCann, 34, was killed instantly after sustaining serious head injuries when a bus jumped a red light and smashed into his scooter-powered taxi in New Delhi.

Gary, who set up the charity Twinvision with his twin brother Paul, was on his way to a meeting to discuss a new project when the tragedy happened.

The brothers, from Grafton Street, Toxteth, had lived together in India for 18 months to realise their dream of helping disadvantaged children.

They used their own money to found the charity which provides photographic instruction for youngsters and cameras for them to use in documenting their lives.

Speaking from the family home where he still runs the organisation, Paul relived the day of Gary's death last year and told how he had a "twin's premonition" about the tragedy.

He said: "That day I had a terrible feeling in my stomach. I felt suicidal for the whole day and I didn't have a clue why.

"I couldn't sleep at all and when I got a phone call from a friend in India I knew exactly what was wrong.

"They said the British High Commission had been trying to reach us and that Gary had been killed in a terrible accident."

Gary had completed a long train journey from Rajasthan to New Dehli at 5:40 am on October 30th when he hailed a rickshaw to take him to his hotel.

He was to meet an American charity in New Dehli to establishing an outreach photography project with the city's impoverished street children.

The driver of the 30-seater bus is facing criminal prosecution after fleeing the scene of the

accident and trying to hide in a local hospital. Evidence from eye witness Waqil Ahmed Siddiqui, 46, who helped catch the driver, was read to the 10-minute hearing in Liverpool.

Restaurant owner Mr Siddiqui said: "I was following the bus when he went straight through the red light at a junction.

"He crashed straight into the ricksaw and I could see that both the taxi driver and the passenger were seriously injured. The bus kept on going, so I followed him and eventually I was able to pull in front and get him to stop.

"He jumped out of the bus and ran into the local hospital before the police arrived and arrested him."

Paul said he intends to continue the charity's work and aims to hold an exhibition in Liverpool to showcase his brother's work with children.

He said: "Gary's death came as a terrible shock to us all, not just the family but the children he has taught all over the world.

"But in his memory Twinvision will carry on all of the good work he did and hopefully this is just the beginning for the charity.

"Our lifelong dream was to set up this charity so it can run forever with or without us at the helm. There are a number of plans to take the projects even further by twinning more schools in India with English schools.

"Gary died doing what he loved and from that we can always take comfort."